Nigel Graham Blues Reaction

NIGEL GRAHAM

"Nigel who did he used to play for? surely he must have been in a big name band, I can't think who" A comment from one of the concert goers 4th April 05 at the Junction.

Born in 1955, Graham played professionally in a co-formed band Fleece back in 1974. They gigged all over the country playing original and standard material.

The band based in their hometown of Cambridge, supported several name acts including Leo Sayer and Be Bop Deluxe.They played several well-known venues such as the legendary Marquee in London and The Theatre Royal in Norwich. Graham disbanded this line up in March '75 and co-formed another later in the summer called Actress.

This featured the bass player and drummer from Fleece but a new keyboard player. Actress played all original material and with their manager formed their own production company, set up with the studios they used in Oxfordshire. A record contract was secured before the end of the year with Mountain Records who also had Nazareth,

The Sensational Alex Harvey Band and The Baker Gurvitz Army on their books. An album of all original material was recorded.

Actress' manager however allowed them hardly any live work, something they had thrived on in Fleece. An album was recorded and the few gigs allowed them were played supporting name acts, Be Bop Deluxe (again), The Pink Faries and Stray. The obviously frosty relationship between Actress' manager and the record company resulted in him taking the band out of the contract without consulting them first. Tied to a five year publishing contract with the company that they couldn't utilise, the strain of endless rehearsals and virtually no live work took it's toll and they eventually split up.

Graham turned to writing more and during the early to mid eighties formed two rock bands Force Nine and The Force, playing mostly his material and a few covers . They played pubs and clubs and again occasionally supported well known bands including Dumpy's Rusty Nuts and Larry Martin, both popular on the club circuit at that time. Force Nine played a rock festival headlined by Tony McPhee and The Groundhogs.

The full transition to blues took place in the late eighties. The early nineties saw two short lived three piece line-ups. In 1995 he began a stint in a local blues pop/rock band The Machine Shed Band. Within 18 months Graham and the drummer Matt Powell left to form a true blues band - Safehouse. However, sporadic gigging and a lack of total commitment from band members resulted in Graham deciding to go solo.